At a small event today, The Carter Center formally marked the transfer of its Nepal observation research database to Social Science Baha, a Kathmandu-based nonprofit organization that promotes and enhances the study and research of social sciences in Nepal.
As the basis for Carter Center reporting on Nepal's constitution drafting and peace processes, Carter Center observers collected interviews of local, regional, and national interlocutors and surveys of qualitative and quantitative data in a secure database from June 1, 2009, until the start of the Center's international election observation mission in September 2013.
The Center issued 28 reports over the span of its project, all based on research conducted in Nepal's 75 districts and collected in the database. The database, generously supported by funding from USAID Nepal, contained observer reporting on overall trends in peace and constitutional processes, voter registration, and electoral issues; data on regional dynamics across Nepal; and case studies to illuminate how these trends and dynamics operated in practice. Due to the longstanding nature of the Center's presence in Nepal and our unique access to information, this database contains an invaluable snapshot of Nepal's democratic transition.
The Center has sought to transfer this database to a local partner so the data can be available to the Nepali people in any efforts to further democracy. Social Science Baha, an organization dedicated to the promotion of social science research in Nepal, was the ideal candidate to ensure sustainable, broad use of the database. On May 15, 2014, The Carter Center transferred ownership of a redacted copy of the database - one that protects the identities of those interviewed or discussed - to Social Science Baha. The redacted copy is now available at Social Science Baha.
The Carter Center maintained a full-time political, constitutional, and electoral observation presence in Nepal between January 2007 and February 2014.
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